Hoya evelinae was named after Evelina Eriksson (1932-2009) who supported the author (Nathalie Simonsson) work in PNG in the early years.

Here are my two plants together so a comparison can be made.

The plant that I have which has been identified as Hoya apoda, from a consensus of internet Hoya experts, is different than the plant that I received as Hoya evelinae in only a couple of ways. The leaves of H. evelinae are about 1/3 larger than on H. apoda, and H. apoda never has more than one flower emerge at a time from a peduncle, whereas H. evelinae many times has 2 or more.

Hoya evelinae was discovered in the Western Province of PNG, on the Black River near Dahamo. It is a climber in riverine forest, often growing on trees or shrubs, or even on mossy rocks, near or above streams. Not observed on taller trees or in sunnier and drier areas, only in shade or filtered sunlight. Locally common. It was found at elevations from 440-460 meters.

I received Hoya evelinae from an Indonesian import order that I made last summer (2022). It came in quite bad shape, but was really quick to recover. I re-rooted it coconut husk mixed with tree fern fiber and put it into a propagation box and it took right off. This was a plant that I was not sure that I really wanted as the flowers look almost identical to Hoya apoda. Below the leaves of Hoya evelinae:

One more day of this incredible Hoya undulata floral display.

I have been growing this plant for quite a long time now, and this 17 flower display on two peduncles is the best that I have achieved.

I know that I have never photographed these two together before, but now I have!

Hoya vitiensis is a bear to grow well and even harder to flower so whenever it blooms expect to see photos here!

If I can pull this off, flowering Hoya maingayi will probably be my flowering highlight of the year. As far as I know, I will be the first to flower this plant in the U.S. There are almost no flower photos of this plant online other than a couple from Surisa Somadee in Thailand. Fingers crossed that this will happen as I lost my first set of buds on this plant. I have two sets of buds, and one of them is in probably the most inaccessible spot as far as photographing that I have seen in my Hoya keeping career. I would have to cut several leaves out of the way to get flower shots, which I am not willing to do. Fortunately, the other set of buds is accessible.